As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,148,944; 3,048,884; 4,615,079; and 2,042,273; the prior are is replete with myriad and diverse hand held scraping type tools for use on both fish as well as other work surfaces.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, these prior art tools with the notable exception of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,079 reference are neither designed nor suited for the removal of the blood lines that run down the center of the interior body cavity of fish in general.
In addition while there is not a problem with slitting the belly of most fish to remove the bloodline; there are certain instances such as encountered with sablefish wherein, the wholesaler requires that the belly skin be left intact thereby mandating the use of a long handled narrow scraping tool to both rupture the blood vessel membrane and effect its removal from a generally conical body cavity.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new type of sliming and scraping tool that would not only produce the desired results in a simple straight forward manner; but would also accomplish those objectives with a minimum amount of stress and strain being exerted on the part of the fish cleaner; and, the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.